Hello dear Hivers! How are you on this beautiful day?
It's Monday- the first day of the week! The scheduled day for the Municipal Festival of Talents (MFOT) Oratorical Composition and Presentation event (English category) to be held at a secondary school in one of the mountainous barangays in the municipality of Tabogon, Cebu- the Loreto Remedios Montebon National High School, located at Canaocanao, Tabogon, Cebu.
Canaocanao is situated at approximately 10.9002, 123.9987, in the island of Cebu. Elevation at these coordinates is estimated at 173.9 meters or 570.5 feet above mean sea level. Source.
A bit doubtful and worried at first if the said competition should be pushed through due to the bad weather conditions in the past few days such as cloudy skies, rain showers and thunderstorms brought about by the super typhoon "Wamar" or locally called "Betty" as it entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) last weekend.
The rainfall forecasts, in fact, pushed the local government to declare suspension of classes last Friday as announced in their Facebook page in order to protect the health and safety of the learners as well as alert the locals to prepare and be ready for the possible effects of the heavy to moderate rains such as floods and landslides.
But fortunately, the weather must have understood and cooperated with us that the sky became bright and Mister Sun came out on a beautiful Monday morning- a perfect day it was to proceed with the Municipal Oratorical Composition and Presentation event and climb up to the mountains where the host secondary school this year to conduct the activity was located.
As early as 7:30 in the morning, my student (our school's orator) and I hit the road riding on our motorbike with the husband taking us to our destination passing by the two adjacent barangays Loong and Labangon before reaching Canaocanao where the host school was.
On our way, we had to pass through a bumpy and rough road as we took the feeder road to Sitio Riverside, barangay Labangon until we could reach this short bridge that connects barangays Labangon and Canaocanao.
It was with a sigh of relief that this road going up was a bit smoother but with the three of us on the motorbike, it should be a little struggle! (I pity our two wheels. If it can talk, it must be complaining, we're too heavy.)lol! I was a bit anxious, too!
However, as we went further up, my anxiety was gone but was replaced with amazement and awe. We really had to stop so I could take quick snaps of the stunning and scenic view of the mountains and landscapes right in front of our eyes!
It's not my first time to climb uphill going up to this distant village but it didn't fail to capture my eyes as I pass by this area. The lush vegetation and the green surroundings will surely calm your perplexed spirit!
A few meters away from the school, this wide farm lined up with banana plants seemed waving at us as they cornered the corn plants that started blooming as the sky sprinkled them with rain these past days!
I should say coming here again is a beautiful opportunity for me having to experience and appreciate the beauty of these landscapes and nature, in general! The locals here must be very lucky to enjoy the fresh free air that they breathe every day living in this village.
Sugar cane, coconut trees, corn, banana plants and other crops are what occupied the huge farmlands along this area.
As it was about 8 o' clock and we still had to accomplish our main goal why we're here, we had to wake up from this delightful spell and diverted our thoughts back to reality- to participate in the oratorical composition and presentation competition!
The Venue
Finally, we reached our destination warmly welcomed by these group of Supreme Student Government (SSG) Officers standing cheerfully at the school gate.
It's my second time to have come here and as radiant and warm as the weather are the beautiful smiles and grins of the students and teachers whom you see around this school.
Not to delay any further, when everything was set- including the presence of all student participants and coaches of the eight (8) public secondary schools in the Municipality of Tabogon, the opening program immediately took place that officially started the Municipal Festival of Talents 2023.
The Oratorical Contest
The Oratorical Composition and Presentation is an event open to all Grade ten (10) learners who are officially enrolled in public schools. The participants shall be simultaneously provided with a topic or theme for their speech. They shall be given fifty (50) minutes to write on a piece of paper their short speech based on the given topic or theme and shall be called to deliver their speech which shall not exceed (5)minutes.
After a short orientation and some reminders on the how's of the activity, the student-orators proceeded to the writing task and showed their prowess in developing an essay, themselves to deliver in front of an audience later.
After a thorough and careful deliberation and judgment, my student came out the First Placer in the said competition to our delight and pride.
This student of mine is actually a silent type of girl who feels uneasy in front of a crowd but winning this contest is truly an achievement for her! I know it wasn't easy for her but I'm just glad she starts to get out of her shell and learns to face her fear!
We came to Canaocanao not expecting anything. We witnessed the magnificent view of the mountains and landscapes. The student conquered her shyness and brought home the bacon!
"The best views, indeed, come after the hardest climb".-successminded.co. Truly, a memorable uphill climb to the beautiful village called Canaocanao.
And this is all for today's blog dear Hivers! Thank you for reaching this far reading my blog. See you again next time. Until then....